Here are some fun rain activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners, to teach them about this important resource and part of life.
Whether you are doing a rain theme or just learning about rain on a rainy day, these hands-on activities will spark lots of creativity and fun learning.
There are ideas for arts and crafts, music and movement, language and dramatic play, sensory play, science and maths and outdoor play.
1. Drawing Rainy Day Chalk Art
Offer kids a selection of construction paper and coloured chalk. Ask them to draw a scene of things they could see outdoors on a rainy day (including rainbows).
With medicine/water droppers, children then become “rainclouds” to squeeze droplets of “rain” onto their pictures.
2. Designing Umbrellas
Fold unwaxed, plain paper plates in half, cutting on the fold lines to form two umbrellas. With paints or markers, kids decorate these as umbrella canopies.
Cut or tear cardboard or construction paper into the shape of the letter “J,” to glue or tape onto each canopy as the umbrella handle.
3. Fingerprinting Rain Drops
Children glue cotton balls near the top of their grey sheets of construction paper for clouds.
Using blue tempera paint or washable stamp pads, they pat the tips of their fingers into the colour and then press onto their papers to form raindrops falling from the clouds.
4. Songs and Rhymes
Here are some popular kids’ songs about rain:
Incy Wincy Spider
Incy Wincy spider went up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
So, Incy Wincy spider went up the spout again
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring
It’s raining, it’s pouring;
The old man is snoring.
He went to bed and he
Bumped his head
And he couldn’t get up in the morning.
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day.
Daddy wants to play.
Rain, rain, go away.
Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day.
Mommy wants to play.
Rain, rain, go away.
Listen to the rest of this version by Super Simple Songs:
I Hear Thunder
I hear thunder!
I hear thunder!
Hark don’t you,
Hark don’t you?
Pitter, patter raindrops,
Pitter, patter raindrops,
I’m wet through
and so are you!
Rainbow Song
Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue.
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow too.
Here are more fun rainbow songs for kids.
The Wheels on the Bus
Add in any more of the verses of this song:
The wheels on the bus go round and round
Round and round
Round and round
The wheels on the bus go round and round
All day long
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish
Swish, swish, swish
Swish, swish, swish
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish
All day long
Here is a great collection of songs about the weather for preschoolers.
Robin in the Rain
5. Listening and Dancing to Rain
Play background music of raindrops falling or gentle thunder sounding while children dance, play or rest.
6. Making Rain with our Bodies
Lead children in this body percussion activity to signify the beginning, peak and dying away of a thunderstorm.
- Quietly rub fingers together.
- Rub both hands together to make a soft sound.
- Softly clap hands together.
- Snap your fingers.
- Resume clapping but louder this time.
- Clap even louder.
- Clap very loudly.
- Stomp both feet and clap for a lot of noise.
- Then do the steps in reverse until all is quiet.
7. Sharing Books and Videos
These books are available online:
Thunder Cake – Patricia Polacco
A Rainbow of My Own – Don Freeman
Umbrella – Taro Yashima
Split! Splat! – Amy Gibson
Pignic – Matt Phelan
Who Likes Rain? – Wong Herbert Yee
8. Make a Wordless Picture Book
Share the wordless picture book Rain by Peter Spier.
After “picture walking” through the book and discussing all the events illustrated, challenge kids to come up with one or two sentences to “tell the story” for each page as you write their words.
This is an effective book to reinforce top-to-bottom and left-to-right progression through pictures, as well.
9. Relaxing with Water
For indoor water play, fill a water table or plastic tubs with water. Offer a variety of plastic containers and toys to fill, pour and float.
10. Wallowing in the Mud
For an outside sensory experience, have children work in the mud. Provide toy vehicles, shovels and buckets for muddy play.
11. Acting Out a Story with Puppets
Practise retelling a fictional story about the rain that you have previously read. Ask kids to then act out the story with puppets.
12. Pantomiming a Story or Weather Event
Discuss different emotions and how those can be expressed on faces without saying a word.
Challenge kids to act out a weather event, such as a thunderstorm approaching, showing emotions through their actions and facial expressions only.
13. Experimenting with a Rain Cloud in a Jar
If you are wondering how to explain rain to preschoolers, here is a fun way.
- Fill a wide-mouthed clear jar about ¾ full of water to represent the air.
- Spray shaving cream into the jar over the water so that it mounds a bit out of the top to represent a cloud.
- Using a pipette or dropper, squirt liquid blue food colouring premixed with a bit of water onto the shaving cream several times.
- Watch as the blue seeps through the “cloud” after it becomes saturated and into the “air” as “rain!”
Complete as a group or with each child having their own jar for the experiment. Instead of shaving cream, you can also place a sponge over the jar mouth to use as the cloud.
Here are some more fun water experiments for preschoolers.
14. Making a Water Cycle in a Bag
Teach kids about the water cycle with this cool activity:
- With a black marker, draw a sun and clouds near the top of a small, sealable plastic bag and a water line of waves about an inch from the bottom.
- Fill the bag up to the water line with water that is coloured blue with food colouring.
- Zip the bag closed and seal it with tape.
- Tape the bag to a window in a sunny location.
The heat from the sun eventually makes the water evaporate and condense near the top of the bag by the clouds.
After condensing for a while, the water droplets slide down the sides of the bag back to the bottom as “rain.”
15. Combining Counting with a Rainy Day
Share the picture book Raindrop, Plop! by Wendy Lewison with youngsters.
Urge them to count along with you while reading and retelling the story.
16. Measuring Rainfall with a Gauge
Here’s a practical way to teach kids about measurement.
- Cut the top off an empty and clear 2-litre soda bottle about five inches down.
- Children fill the bottom with pebbles covered by water and draw a line with a black marker at that level.
- Then have kids hold the ruler to measure one centimetre/inch at a time, while adults label the increments with the marker.
- Invert the piece of the bottle that was cut off and place it into the opening.
- Set the rain gauge outdoors in the open but where wind and overhanging vegetation do not affect it.
Observe the gauge after a rainstorm to see approximately how much rain fell. Check the news/weather together and compare your results to the official rainfall readings.
17. Going for a Rainy-Day Walk
On a warm, rainy day that is free from thunder or lightning, dress for the rain and explore nature with a walk outside, using all senses to experience the weather. Who can see a rainbow?
18. Playing Outside in the Rain and Mud
On a warm rainy day with no thunderstorm activity, send the kids to play outdoors in the rain, either with rain boots or with bare feet. They will love it!
With a rain theme, preschool children can learn more about the science and necessity related to this form of precipitation. They can also learn to appreciate all the sensual beauty of winds, showers and rainbows!
I hope you’ve enjoyed these rain preschool activities.
Looking for more ideas? Check out these themes for preschoolers.
